Infantas, Fernando de las
Infantas, Fernando de las
Infantas, Fernando de las, Spanish composer and theologian; b. Cόordoba, 1534; d. c. 1610. He belonged to a noble family and received a thorough classical and musical education. He also enjoyed the protection of the Emperor Charles V and later of Emperor Philip II, who employed him on diplomatic missions in Italy. He went to Venice, and then lived in Rome from about 1571 to 1597. In 1584 he was ordained and subsequently served as a church chaplain. He exerted a decisive influence upon the course of Catholic church music by opposing the plan for the reform of the Roman Gradual undertaken by Palestrina in 1578 at the request of Pope Gregory XIII. Backed by the authority of Emperor Philip II of Spain, he succeeded in having the project abandoned. He publ. Sacrarum varii styli cantionum tituli Spiritus Sancti, a collection of motets in 3 books: I for 4 Voices, II for 5 Voices (both publ. in Venice, 1578), and III for 6-8 Voices (Venice, 1579), and Plura modulationum genera quae vulgo contrapuncta appellantur super excelso gregoriano cantu (Venice, 1579; contains 100 contrapuntal exercises for 2-8 Voices based on 1 plain-song theme; it pointed the way to a new freedom and elasticity in polyphonic writing); separate compositions were also publ. in various collections of the time.
Bibliography
R. Mitjana y Gordόn, Don F. d.l.I., teologo y músico (Madrid, 1918).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire